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Comment by compactmani | Hacker News Reader

"I don't have one because of principles" is an excellent answer. It's the answer I give whenever someone asks me for anything social media related whether the context is social or professional. You may be surprised to hear that I've experienced zero consequences for it.

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I'm slightly on the fence with this one. Often employers are looking for someone "normal" who will fit into a team in a "normal" sort of way; and having a LinkedIn account is certainly "normal" (given the number of people who have them). On the other hand, obviously some employers are looking for someone weird and exceptional, and, on that basis, are prepared to have to deal with Richard Stallman and his problems with parrots (https://groups.google.com/a/mysociety.org/forum/#!msg/mysoci...).

Secondly, you absolutely do not want to start ranting about "principles" or "ethics" during an interview - or being overtly negative about fairly common-place things - unless you're pretty sure they're looking for RMS and your beard is looking exceptional that day.

But, all that said, I think you could probably get out of a "Why don't you have a LinkedIn profile?" scenario in a fairly anodyne way just by saying something like, "I'll be honest, I used to have one, but I got sick of the spam."

I have literally never been asked about LinkedIn in an interview.

What other high school cliquey things do you expect on an interview?

I've definitely been asked by potential clients if they can look at my LinkedIn profile to get an idea of my background and the sort of companies and projects I've worked on in the past (and I've even had clients ask that about other members of my team too).

Not at an interview, but I've certainly been asked about it in the informal social conversations that often are the precursors to eventual formal interviews, and people often seem skeptical when I say I don't have one (much in the same ways some people might react skeptically if told that someone doesn't have a github account).

Not having a github profile is fine and should raise no eyebrows same way not having a linkedin profile is fine. Resumes used to be a thing before linkedin and if someone says they don't have a resume then maybe that's an issue but otherwise it's business as usual. Similarly if a programmer has no side projects then that might or might not be a type of person you're trying to hire but github in no way is a prerequisite for having side projects which is what actually matters and is an indicator of how much a person invests in programming as a skill.

I've never asked about LinkedIn in an interview. However, I do sometimes look up candidates prior to interviewing them, and admit to being slightly curious if I can't find them, although would not let it count against them. Conversely, I have also seen a few candidates look me up on LinkedIn prior to their interview, which I generally take as positive sign, because it shows they are trying to prepare.

For quite some time I was trying to get people to look at my actual resume instead of its shadow on linkedin and I couldn't get people to do it because they would google my name and the first link would be on linkedin so they would never bother to look beyond it. As soon as I closed my linkedin account all of a sudden people started looking at my actual resume and my code on github. I don't regret closing my account and forcing people to do some legwork to find my qualifications instead of doing the lazy thing and stalking on linkedin.

It's not unheard of for employers to look you up on every social media site as a quick "background check." They don't have to ask you about it in an interview for it to be relevant.

> and his problem with parrots

from the link:

> DON'T buy a parrot figuring that it will be a fun surprise for me. To acquire a parrot is a major decision: it is likely to outlive you. If you don't know how to treat the parrot, it could be emotionally scarred and spend many decades feeling frightened and unhappy. If you buy a captured wild parrot, you will promote a cruel and devastating practice, and the parrot will be emotionally scarred before you get it. Meeting that sad animal is not an agreeable surprise.

Sounds like a valid point to me, parrots really do live forever.

> You may be surprised to hear that I've experienced zero consequences for it.

That you know of. The most common negative response would most likely be an eye roll and going elsewhere/talking to someone else.

If someone's actually going to refuse to interact with me simply because I tell them that I don't use social media sites then well, I'm probably better off and not missing out on much.

I was referring more to taking a principled stand on LinkedIn, of all things.

Exactly this. There are times when people are talking to you but not asking for your personal philosophy. I'm prone to this particular mode of conversation (telling people the "why" or "how" when they asked about the "what"). If it's pertinent to the conversation then share it but don't talk at people about your well reasoned views or you risk being "that guy".

In this case you do have to give an explanation, because it's expected by the conformists.

You can also say, "I played around with it in the past but it's not my thing, and I don't keep it up to date" if you're worried that the recipient is going to think you're a weirdo for not participating in the latest social media fad. Works with "Are you on Facebook?" too.

Most people never believe me when I tell them Fecebook banned me for being too old. No skin off my ass, if 'social media'(sic) participation is given weight in critical decision making our values are obviously incongruent & we are better off going our own ways.

as far as you've noticed although its obviously impossible to prove a negative.

But you won't notice you've not received offers of employment on linkedin (because you don't have a linkedin account) or missed out on social events on facebook (because you don't have a facebook account - and won't necessarily see the photos/aftermath statuses etc).

But he would notice if he didn't have a job or an active social life which is the real point.

THIS.

Imagine you tell me that by not joining a certain club in my town, (golf anyone?) that I’m missing out on job opportunities, social events, even marriage possibilities.

Well, yes, obviously I am not doing some of those things with my time. But I’m doing other things with my time. So in what sense am I “missing out?”

I’m only missing out if I know for fact that I would gain a deeper sense of satisfaction from those other things. And if I’m currently happy, the onus is on the person telling me that I’m missing out to prove I’d be better off joining the club.

Naturally, if my days are empty and my heart sad, that’s different. But coming back to LinkedIn, the simple fact is that lots of people who aren’t on LinkedIn think they’re doing just fine.

By that logic, you can't know that being on LinkedIn or Facebook hasn't had negative consequences for you. Perhaps companies are googling you and finding your profiles and being turned off, too!

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